Luck according to the Bible - from an earthly perspective, things may seem to happen at random, but God is in control of all of His creation and is somehow able to take the random acts of natural law, the free will of both good and evil men, and the wicked intent of demons and combine them all to accomplish His good and perfect will. God’s active will or sovereignty would involve something He causes to happen. God’s passive will involves Him allowing, rather than causing, something to happen. Christians are given the promise that God works all things, whether seemingly good or bad, together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose

What does the Bible say about luck?

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “luck” as follows:

1. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events. 

2. Good fortune or prosperity; success ... to gain success or something desirable by chance: “I lucked out in finding that rare book.”

The main question is, do things happen by chance? 

If they do, then one can speak of someone being lucky or unlucky. 

But if they do not happen by chance, then it is inappropriate to use those terms. 

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 states, “I have seen something else under the sun: 

"The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

"Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: 

"As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. 

"Much of what Ecclesiastes shares is from the perspective of a person who looks at life on earth without God, or life 'under the sun.'” 

From such a perspective — leaving God out of the picture — there seems to be good luck and bad luck.

A runner in a race may be the swiftest, but because someone in front of him stumbles, he trips over him and falls and does not win the race. 

How unlucky for him? 

Or a warrior king may have the strongest army but some “chance” arrow shot up into the air at random by a no-name enemy soldier just happens to pierce his armor in its most vulnerable location (2 Chronicles 18:33) resulting in that king’s death and the loss of the battle. 

How unlucky for King Ahab? 

Was it a matter of luck? 

Reading the whole of 2 Chronicles 18, we find that God had His hand in the matter from the beginning. 

The soldier who shot the arrow was totally unaware of its trajectory, but God in His sovereignty knew all along it would mean the death of wicked King Ahab.

A similar “chance” occurrence takes place in the book of Ruth. 

Ruth, a widow who was caring for her widowed mother-in-law, seeks a field to glean grain to provide for them. 

“So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters.

"As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech” (Ruth 2:3). 

Elimelech had been the husband of her mother-in-law, Naomi, so Boaz was a relative of hers and was generous to Ruth. 

As Ruth returns home with a great deal more grain than Naomi expected, “her mother-in-law asked her, ‘Where did you glean today? 

"Where did you work? 

"Blessed be the man who took notice of you!’ 

"Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working.

"‘The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,’ she said. 

"‘The LORD bless him!’ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. 

"‘He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.’

"She added, ‘That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.’" - (Ruth 2:19-20). 

So Naomi did not see it as a “chance” occurrence but as the providence of God, as do others later on (Ruth 4:14).

Proverbs 16:33 states a general principle: “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.” 

This refers to the use of casting lots (similar to the tossing of a coin or the rolling of dice) to settle certain judicial cases. 

The case involving Achan in Joshua 7 is an example in which the principle of Proverbs 16:33 is used to find the guilty party. 

Proverbs 18:18 states something similar: “Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart.”

Again, the idea is that God’s providence plays the determining role in the results of the casting of lots so that judicial conflicts can be resolved no matter how great the contention. 

Proverbs 16:33 would indicate that something as random as the rolling of dice or the tossing of a coin is not outside of God’s sovereign control.

 And, therefore, its results are not merely of chance.

God’s sovereignty involves two aspects. 

God’s active will or sovereignty would involve something He causes to happen such as the leading of wicked King Ahab into battle (2 Chronicles 18:18-19).

Ahab’s death was not merely the result of a randomly shot arrow, but as 2 Chronicles 18 reveals, God actively directed the events that led Ahab into battle and used that randomly shot arrow to accomplish His intended will for Ahab that day.

God’s passive will involves Him allowing, rather than causing, something to happen. 

Chapter 1 of the book of Job illustrates this in what God allowed Satan to do in the life of Job. 

It is also involved in the evil that God allowed Joseph’s brothers to do to Joseph in order to accomplish a greater good, a good not apparent to Joseph until years later (Genesis 50:20).

Because we do not have the curtains drawn back to see what is taking place in heaven, we cannot always determine whether God’s active or passive will is involved in the events of our lives, but we do know that all things that take place are under the umbrella of His will, whether active or passive, and, therefore, nothing is a matter of mere chance. 

When a person rolls the dice to play a board game, God may sometimes cause the dice to land a certain way, but more often than not in such inconsequential matters, He may allow the dice to land as His laws of nature would determine without any active involvement. 

But even when He is not actively involved, how the dice land is still under His sovereignty.

So it is for any event of life; no matter how small (Matthew 10:29-31) or how large (Daniel 4:35; Proverbs 21:1), God is sovereign over all (Ephesians 1:11; Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:9-10), and thus nothing is merely the matter of chance.

From an earthly perspective, things may seem to happen at random, but throughout the whole of Scripture, it is clear that God is in control of all of His creation and is somehow able to take the random acts of natural law, the free will of both good and evil men, and the wicked intent of demons and combine them all to accomplish His good and perfect will (Genesis 50:20; Job chapters 1 and 42; John 9:1-7). 

And Christians, specifically, are given the promise that God works all things, whether seemingly good or bad, together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

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Superstitions - a religious rite is superstitious if the petitioned does not exist or does not have the authority the petitioner believes it to have. Superstitions are thought to alter luck, for good or bad. Good luck charms are probably an attempt to recover the circumstances that led to a good result. Religion and superstition are often connected because of the mystical, unknowable character of the supernatural. Biblically, if the action is calling on a deity, force, or power that doesn't exist or doesn't have the ability to respond, then the action cannot bring about the result. If the action is done in hopes that God will act, then it had better be an action God approves of, performed with a humble, submissive attitude

Omens Good or Bad - superstition is not biblical, and the Bible has serious warnings about everything related to the occult, such as fortune-telling and divination. Simple superstitions are easily explained, such as breaking a mirror supposedly resulting in seven years' bad luck. But those who believe strongly in omens might see a diviner to explain the omen or receive instruction on how to avoid the back luck on the way. Biblical signs are always clearly from God and explained by Him. Christians do not believe in superstition or omens. Christians are granted the Holy Spirit to instruct and guide them. God's Word itself, the Bible, is our source of spiritual insight

Friday the 13th - paraskevidekatriaphobia - Christians should disregard any superstition, including those associated with numbers, certain days, or even bad luck. We are to have faith that God is sovereign over the universe, His people, and the circumstances and events of each day

Stay in Faith No Matter What - our world today is experiencing famine in various places. Yet famine has many faces, and the various trials and afflictions in our lives can have the same frightening effect to test the metal of our faith. Many of us are being severely tested these days with trials that are shaking us to the core. There are faithful who have persevered through to victory and received tremendous blessings for their stand of unswerving faith. The Lord Yeshua Jesus will be faithful to us, and He will abundantly reward our faith in Him

"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful." - James 5:11

Beginning on June 11, the world will celebrate the Feast of Shavuot, known to many Christians as Pentecost.

During the Biblical festival of Shavuot, the book of Ruth is read. 

It is a powerful story of faith, restoration and redemption. 

The book opens with a famine in all the land surrounding Bethlehem, forcing a difficult decision upon Naomi's husband, Elimelech. 

Now, Bethlehem (beth: "house", lechem: "bread") literally means “house of bread”, so the irony of Elimelech's departure from his home, "house of bread", during a famine, is lost on English speaking readers, but reveals that every detail in the word of God can be meaningful, especially the meanings of names.

Now the name "Elimelech" literally means, “My God is King” -- so immediately, another irony appears.

A man whose name expresses the personal testimony of God's authority over every circumstance and His complete trustworthiness, decides to leave the Promised Land, and settle in Moab, across the Jordan -- a land that had become alien territory for the Israelites because of the Moabites' inhospitable treatment of Israel during the sojourn from Egypt.

Elimelech either forgot or ignored the example of the patriarch, Isaac and failed to apply the same faith as his forefather had, and to remain true to his own name!

Genesis 26 recounts how that Isaac had thought of leaving Gerar (modern day Gaza) to go to Egypt in hope of finding food in the midst of a famine, but instead, he stood firm in faith and remained in the Promised Land. 

The Lord's response was to bless Isaac a hundred fold that same year! [Genesis 26:12] 

However, we also read in Genesis 12 how Abraham had left the land during a famine and had encountered problems in Egypt that were as frightening or worse than the famine.

So Elimelech had these two illustrations, one positive, one negative, both of which might have moved him to choose to persevere through this difficult time, and remain in the place of his inheritance.

Whatever the immediate cause, it seems that Elimelech's departure from the Promised Land was not to be reversed. 

He died in Moab, leaving a discouraged widow, and eventually, two widowed daughters-in-law. 

We might ask, what would have been Elimelech's legacy had he stayed and prayed through this extremely difficult and frightening trial in Canaan?

What might have been his "hundred-fold" blessing?

Our world today is experiencing famine in various places. 

Yet famine has many faces, and the various trials and afflictions in our lives can have the same frightening effect to test the metal of our faith. 

Many of us are being severely tested these days with trials that are shaking us to the core. 

There are examples of the faithful who have persevered through to victory and received tremendous blessings from the Lord for their stand of unswerving faith. 

Yet there are also examples of those who somehow did not live up to their own testimony, for failure to stick it out through tough situations. 

We have these two paths before us.

Yeshua (Jesus) asked this question; "Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"? 

And in another place He spoke directly to Satan these timeless words; "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God." 

If there was ever a time to believe these words, it is now, even as the world stands on the brink, and the earth groans in the travail of childbirth. 

Some of us have the opportunity of a lifetime to get through our particular trial, in faith. 

The Lord Yeshua will be faithful to us, and He will abundantly reward our faith in Him. 

Let's stay the course.

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